Students condemn use of fluoride in water supplies

Student researchers from St Brigid's College, Callan, Co Kilkenny, take a dim view of the use of fluoride in our water supplies. "Mass medication is for cattle, not humans," they argue in their presentation.

Kate Fahey, Karen Reidy and Pamela Cardillo looked at the impact of the chemical on the environment, how the Government is involved through legislation and what other countries think about fluoridation. They conclude that fluoridation is "neither necessary nor worthwhile".

Ireland, they state, is the only democracy where fluoridation is demanded by law, and they claim that only 2 per cent of European water supplies carry the chemical. Fluoridation was banned during the 1970s in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and the former West Germany, and by France in 1980, they report.

They took their findings to heart, deciding to raise a petition against the practice in an effort to change Government policy.

Rachel Kane, Lora Alexander and Jonathon McKane, all transition year students from the Omagh Academy, Co Tyrone, ignored public health policy in favour of aerodynamics and an analysis of what was required to make a pig fly. "We wanted to do aerodynamics but wanted it to be light-hearted," explained Rachel. They calculated the aircraft wingspan required to allow a stuffed pig and some necessary ballast to take flight. They used the information to hand-build a 3 ft wood and paper glider, choosing a wing profile from a book and then testing its airworthiness.

They carried out a number of experiments and finally hit on a combination that allowed the furry pink pig to lift off a record 8.25m.

Sophie Murphy (15) and Nezira Delagic (16), of Sancta Maria College, Ballyroan, Co Dublin, looked to the rainbow for inspiration for their project, a study of the energies of the colours of the spectrum.

They borrowed a spectrometer from UCD and rigged up a photodiode and a voltmeter to record the voltages coming from the diode, explained Nezira, who moved to Ireland from Tuzla, Bosnia, three years ago.

They couldn't explain all of their findings, most notably why about a quarter of the light energy seems to go missing after passing through the spectrometer. The two fifth-year students hope to enter again next year with a study about how artists see and then interpret colour.

Angelina Cullen (16), of Presentation Secondary School, Terenure, Dublin, decided to study the traffic chaos that chokes the capital. Last year, she surveyed her school on how students arrive. This year ing five schools on Dublin's southside.

She believes the current gridlock is entirely down to school runs. A third of the 600 students surveyed were brought to school by car and 27 per cent by bus. Another 23 per cent walk and 14 per cent cycle.

"Last year I thought that buses were the answer, but this year I don't think so. Walking and cycling is the answer." Reducing the numbers of cars and buses would make for cleaner air and less busy roads, she maintains.